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"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without." - Confucius

I guess I developed a fighter jet pilot fetish this weekend. I attended the AIR14 Payerne show in the company of Breitling and was surrounded by men of the hottest type, possessing nerves of the coolest steel. Honestly, I was never enthusiastic about fighter aircrafts, but the storm of sounds, the earth-shaking vibration, the wide-open sparkling eyes of both young and old, the most precise air-ballet of tons of metal and the self-confident charisma of riders blew my mind. I felt the adrenalin – imagine what these guys and ladies (yesss!) can feel up there!

I would bet a large sum that if you were asked to name the top watch brands you associate aeronautics with, Breitling would rank somewhere at the very peak. It was only few months ago, when in the Zürich boutique of Les Ambassadeurs I took a culinary flight with René Schudel – a master chef, recreational pilot and from that Thursday onwards, a happy owner of a Breitling Emergency. While there the lead role was played by timepieces and shrimps, at Payerne the air was filled with kerosene.

Payerne is just a stone’s throw away from the headquarters of Breitling, south of Lake Neuchâtel. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the 4-day show (held over two subsequent weekends) in disciplined queues to see local and foreign heroes and their combat planes. To tell the very truth I was surprised by the depth of knowledge everyone had about the participating historic and contemporary planes – kids were shouting the names of models well before they appeared on the LCDs and the excitement spread like the speed of sound.

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Enthusiasm at the Breitling booth

 
Pride was tangible in exactly the same way as at Swiss watch shows like Baselworld or SIHH. Naturally, at Payerne every child wanted to become a fighter jet pilot – in fact, that is probably the coolest thing one can ever become! The show was organized in a way that spectators could get close to both the pilots and machines. Every time a formation finished an exercise and landed, they rolled by in front of the visitors before parking the jets and riding a bicycle back to the VIP tent. Of course, accompanied by the greatest ovation of the crowds.
 

 
Breitling timepieces have travelled far in the past 130 years. They participated in combats in the WW, flew to outer space in 1962 and have been in the air with airlines and air forces all over the world. The brand has restored iconic planes, such as a Super Constellation and a DC-3, supported performances like the Wingwalkers and have given full throttle to the Breitling Jet Team as well as the Jetman. Most of them have elevated the show at Payerne, too. In addition Breitling has been the official timekeeper of the Red Bull Air Race and the supporter of Team Breitling competing in the series.
 

 

Photo credits: Michael Haas, Loupiosity.com.
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